Susan Buffum's Blog: Welcome to My World, page 18
August 11, 2016
Wilting in the Heat & Humidity
Has the continental USA been flipped upside down?
I choose to live in New England because of it's variable weather- the unexpected pleasure of snowfall one day, gorgeous sunshine and 60's the next. I liked not knowing what each day would bring when I rolled up the window shade and got my first glimpse of the new day.
Now I feel like I live in Florida. The heat and humidity is oppressive and unwelcome. I am not heat tolerant, and do not do well in humidity either. This has been going on here all summer, it seems. Today the sun was shining brightly and the rain was falling in torrents!
Today I saw a young man sitting bare chested on the roof of his car in the sunshine and rain while waiting for someone to come back outside from their doctor appointment. This is not something one sees every day in Westfield, MA. Even human beings can't tolerate the heat and humidity sitting in a car with the windows all down.
I am wilting...but not yet melting.
I choose to live in New England because of it's variable weather- the unexpected pleasure of snowfall one day, gorgeous sunshine and 60's the next. I liked not knowing what each day would bring when I rolled up the window shade and got my first glimpse of the new day.
Now I feel like I live in Florida. The heat and humidity is oppressive and unwelcome. I am not heat tolerant, and do not do well in humidity either. This has been going on here all summer, it seems. Today the sun was shining brightly and the rain was falling in torrents!
Today I saw a young man sitting bare chested on the roof of his car in the sunshine and rain while waiting for someone to come back outside from their doctor appointment. This is not something one sees every day in Westfield, MA. Even human beings can't tolerate the heat and humidity sitting in a car with the windows all down.
I am wilting...but not yet melting.
August 10, 2016
A Snapshot of a Writer
I work an 8AM-5PM job like a normal person. I do my job to the best of my ability, and probably give it 125% effort every day because I deal with helping sick people get what they need from their insurance companies, hook them up with home services and help them with mountains of forms and paperwork.
All the while I am doing my day job there is a separate level of my brain where ideas are forming, percolating and sprouting. I'm aware of it happening but to the casual observer, I'm diligently doing my job. I'm diligently doing my job but that other part of me, the writer part, is also diligently doing its job simultaneously.
When I get home from work I eat dinner, and then I sit down to write. I write on my HP Stream at the kitchen table which is sort of the hub of my life. I eat my meals here. I pay the bills here. I do projects here. I prepare things to bake here. I've groomed and cleaned the cats here when they were kittens. I've sat Kelly on this table and washed and bandaged her scraped knees when she was younger. She sometimes sits across from me to check her email, read facebook posts, or writes. This is the epicenter of my home life as a writer.
I'm pretty quiet when I write. I have, in the past, played music on the main computer in the den before John bought me my Dell netbook, which I wrote on for five years, and now this computer that is about a year and a couple months old. The letters were worn off my Dell. The A is wearing off this keyboard already! I can hear the TV but don't pay much attention to it.
I have a small notebook and a pen near me, but only use it to jot down things I want to remember that I've just written- like a character's name, or why he/she did what they did, or a location- whatever- because I write out of my head and it comes fast and furious. Twenty-five pages later, fifty pages on I don't even know what I've written about, but I have a general idea. Stories leap from my imagination into print with no stops in between. I've had to train myself to jot brief notes in that notebook to mark imagination's soaring passage. I had to do that because Kelly got tired of my asking her, "What was that character's name, the one who...?" and "What was the name of the town they stopped in?" She's got an awesome memory (photographic). I can remember a lot of stuff except lines from movies, baseball players names, jokes, and what I've already written!
I write from 7PM-11PM, and occasionally up to midnight if I want to get the whole section I'm writing done before I turn in.
I do not go back and read what I've already written. I read the book when it's finished. That's where any continuity errors are caught and fixed and all the little tweaks are made to tighten it all up. I write on the fly and don't stop until it's done.
On weekends I do things that need to be done- like housework, errands, laundry, attend author events, read a little...and write in my spare time.
I'm sort of reclusive, but have started to get out into the community more. I was terribly shy growing up and still feel nervous meeting people and having to talk to them I've always written as a hobby to entertain myself, my family and friends. From ages eleven to twenty-one I sprawl on the floor or my bed and wrote longhand in notebooks. Occasionally I used my Mom's electric typewriter. Yeah, I was writing before there were computers. We got an Apple computer shortly after we got married in 1984, but still I preferred to write longhand or type. I was still using the typewriter when John got the Gateway computer. Kelly learned to use the computer before I did. I liked the typewriter well enough, but hated the backspacing to correct mistakes. That was the only thing that got me to use the computer in the mid-1990's for writing- the ease of correcting mistakes prior to printing! It took me a long time to trust my stories to still be there when I turned the computer on! Now I'm savvy enough to back up everything I write to a USB!
I've sort of always been involved with writing- arts and literary magazines in high school and college, satirical 'newspapers' in a previous job that amused my co-workers, writing various articles on antique and vintage buttons for 10 years for the Massachusetts State Button Society and serving as editor of the 42-page annual magazine during that time, writing annual holiday stories for my family, and then jumping into writing novels only recently- within the past five years, because I never thought I had it in me to write a novel until Kelly asked me to join her during NaNoWriMo in 2012. I've been writing novels ever since!
So- this is me, the woman who sits at her kitchen table after work and on weekends tapping away on the keyboard of her trusty HP Stream (that her husband stripped all the bloatware off of to increase the memory space- hugs & kisses to my IT guy!), creating novels that my circle of family and friends literally give me hugs for and then immediately ask when the next one is going to be out! (Two co-workers were gifted today with the first chapter of the sequel to Black King Takes White Queen...but I may shelf that novel until November and write it as my 2016 NaNo Novel. I have three other novels started and one that is finished but needs some work still before I'm happy with it.)
And if you stop by my house you won't find a pristine palace by any means. I live in a normal house and it's chock full of creative chaos and clutter. Kelly is also creative and a collector like me. Revere and Riley are here- Revere is always happy to greet a visitor, but Riley is more skittish. He may pass through to check out a visitor with a wary backwards glance. I call him the ghost cat since he's gray and white and flits by so fast. Now you see him, not you don't!
The magic of writing all happens at the scarred kitchen table that is marred by cat's grabbing the corners of it to get my attention. You can see letters and possibly whole words impressed into the wood from various writing projects in long hand when Kelly was in school. This table is 27-years old- has been a fixture here since we bought the house and bought the table. It was unfinished when we bought it. John stained the top, and painted the base and legs. It's a classic farm table complete with a drawer on one side that is shallow but deep. That drawer is full of vintage card games and decks of playing cards. (I collect vintage and antique decks of playing cards, another hobby!) I play solitaire to relax- regular solitaire and clock solitaire that my meme taught me to play between games of gin rummy.
This is a snapshot of me, the writer.
All the while I am doing my day job there is a separate level of my brain where ideas are forming, percolating and sprouting. I'm aware of it happening but to the casual observer, I'm diligently doing my job. I'm diligently doing my job but that other part of me, the writer part, is also diligently doing its job simultaneously.
When I get home from work I eat dinner, and then I sit down to write. I write on my HP Stream at the kitchen table which is sort of the hub of my life. I eat my meals here. I pay the bills here. I do projects here. I prepare things to bake here. I've groomed and cleaned the cats here when they were kittens. I've sat Kelly on this table and washed and bandaged her scraped knees when she was younger. She sometimes sits across from me to check her email, read facebook posts, or writes. This is the epicenter of my home life as a writer.
I'm pretty quiet when I write. I have, in the past, played music on the main computer in the den before John bought me my Dell netbook, which I wrote on for five years, and now this computer that is about a year and a couple months old. The letters were worn off my Dell. The A is wearing off this keyboard already! I can hear the TV but don't pay much attention to it.
I have a small notebook and a pen near me, but only use it to jot down things I want to remember that I've just written- like a character's name, or why he/she did what they did, or a location- whatever- because I write out of my head and it comes fast and furious. Twenty-five pages later, fifty pages on I don't even know what I've written about, but I have a general idea. Stories leap from my imagination into print with no stops in between. I've had to train myself to jot brief notes in that notebook to mark imagination's soaring passage. I had to do that because Kelly got tired of my asking her, "What was that character's name, the one who...?" and "What was the name of the town they stopped in?" She's got an awesome memory (photographic). I can remember a lot of stuff except lines from movies, baseball players names, jokes, and what I've already written!
I write from 7PM-11PM, and occasionally up to midnight if I want to get the whole section I'm writing done before I turn in.
I do not go back and read what I've already written. I read the book when it's finished. That's where any continuity errors are caught and fixed and all the little tweaks are made to tighten it all up. I write on the fly and don't stop until it's done.
On weekends I do things that need to be done- like housework, errands, laundry, attend author events, read a little...and write in my spare time.
I'm sort of reclusive, but have started to get out into the community more. I was terribly shy growing up and still feel nervous meeting people and having to talk to them I've always written as a hobby to entertain myself, my family and friends. From ages eleven to twenty-one I sprawl on the floor or my bed and wrote longhand in notebooks. Occasionally I used my Mom's electric typewriter. Yeah, I was writing before there were computers. We got an Apple computer shortly after we got married in 1984, but still I preferred to write longhand or type. I was still using the typewriter when John got the Gateway computer. Kelly learned to use the computer before I did. I liked the typewriter well enough, but hated the backspacing to correct mistakes. That was the only thing that got me to use the computer in the mid-1990's for writing- the ease of correcting mistakes prior to printing! It took me a long time to trust my stories to still be there when I turned the computer on! Now I'm savvy enough to back up everything I write to a USB!
I've sort of always been involved with writing- arts and literary magazines in high school and college, satirical 'newspapers' in a previous job that amused my co-workers, writing various articles on antique and vintage buttons for 10 years for the Massachusetts State Button Society and serving as editor of the 42-page annual magazine during that time, writing annual holiday stories for my family, and then jumping into writing novels only recently- within the past five years, because I never thought I had it in me to write a novel until Kelly asked me to join her during NaNoWriMo in 2012. I've been writing novels ever since!
So- this is me, the woman who sits at her kitchen table after work and on weekends tapping away on the keyboard of her trusty HP Stream (that her husband stripped all the bloatware off of to increase the memory space- hugs & kisses to my IT guy!), creating novels that my circle of family and friends literally give me hugs for and then immediately ask when the next one is going to be out! (Two co-workers were gifted today with the first chapter of the sequel to Black King Takes White Queen...but I may shelf that novel until November and write it as my 2016 NaNo Novel. I have three other novels started and one that is finished but needs some work still before I'm happy with it.)
And if you stop by my house you won't find a pristine palace by any means. I live in a normal house and it's chock full of creative chaos and clutter. Kelly is also creative and a collector like me. Revere and Riley are here- Revere is always happy to greet a visitor, but Riley is more skittish. He may pass through to check out a visitor with a wary backwards glance. I call him the ghost cat since he's gray and white and flits by so fast. Now you see him, not you don't!
The magic of writing all happens at the scarred kitchen table that is marred by cat's grabbing the corners of it to get my attention. You can see letters and possibly whole words impressed into the wood from various writing projects in long hand when Kelly was in school. This table is 27-years old- has been a fixture here since we bought the house and bought the table. It was unfinished when we bought it. John stained the top, and painted the base and legs. It's a classic farm table complete with a drawer on one side that is shallow but deep. That drawer is full of vintage card games and decks of playing cards. (I collect vintage and antique decks of playing cards, another hobby!) I play solitaire to relax- regular solitaire and clock solitaire that my meme taught me to play between games of gin rummy.
This is a snapshot of me, the writer.
August 9, 2016
Giveaway for Black King Takes White Queen Begins!
I'm excited about this book giveaway. Unfortunately the book is only available to USA residents- it's pretty hefty so not in my budget to mail outside of the continental USA at this time. I am giving away 6 copies.
I have self-published 21 books so far and I think that, although I've had favorites before, this new book is my all time favorite.
This giveaway is running longer- maybe 6 weeks? I wanted to give as many people as possible a chance to request it by entering.
So, go find Black King Takes White Queen if you like urban fantasy, witches and warlocks, complex family dynamics and some romance.
Books are first edition and will be signed!
GOOD LUCK!
I have self-published 21 books so far and I think that, although I've had favorites before, this new book is my all time favorite.
This giveaway is running longer- maybe 6 weeks? I wanted to give as many people as possible a chance to request it by entering.
So, go find Black King Takes White Queen if you like urban fantasy, witches and warlocks, complex family dynamics and some romance.
Books are first edition and will be signed!
GOOD LUCK!
August 7, 2016
Faces and Other Visual Prompts
I was asked an unexpected question last week. I'd given a copy of Black King Takes White Queen to a medical assistant intern at work whose 18-year old daughter immediately began reading it. The intern asked me the next day if I had pictures of what the characters looked like. There is some description in the book of the main characters, but not all of them. I said, yes, I do have some pictures that I based the two main characters descriptions on and she asked me for copies of the pictures so she could take them home because her daughter wanted to know what they really looked like. I said, "Well, the characters are based on these pictures but are not necessarily their literary twins." So the following day I gave her four more books for her daughter to read and a color photocopy of the two images upon which I based the main characters. The next day she said the image for Ivy was spot on, exactly as her daughter had pictured her, but the image of Romney wasn't quite as her daughter had pictured him. I said, "Romney has some Native American facial characteristics but he's not necessarily full-blooded Native American, but there may be Native Americans in his bloodline because his family came here in the mid to late 1600's. I also said, I based him on this picture and described his features, like cheekbones, aquiline nose, sensual mouth...but he's not identical. I leave it to the reader's imagination and preferences to fill in the other details." She said the image was close to how her daughter had imagined him, but too pretty (I think the image I used was of a Native American male model so of course he was "pretty," as she put it.)
Sometimes I am inspired to create a character from a face I see. And sometimes, I type in characteristics I'm looking for to see if I can find a face/image to use to model my character on. Sometimes I need a visual guide.
I do the same thing with houses and other structures. If a house catches my eye I might construct a whole story around it (the Second Empire mansion known as The Cedars Funeral Home in The Girl With The Ivy Tattoo in Miss Peculiar's Haunting Tales, Volume II comes to mind.) I'll print the picture or take a picture of the house and use it as a descriptive prompt.
My dining room is littered with faces and houses ad some cars and other vehicles. These are references and reminders to me of what my characters sort of look like in case I write a sequel. I really need to put them in a visual prompt scrapbook by novel/story. That would be ideal and a much better way of organizing them than the scrap pile on the table!
My table also has stacks of research- like the magical qualities of herbs, plants, trees. Vampire traits. Ranks of angels and descriptions of them. I have articles on chinchillas (The Archetypes series), haunted houses, ghost hunting gear (the as yet unpublished Amberton Paranormal Investigative Society novels set in the vicinity of Burlington VT), funeral home etiquette and livery (The Girl with the Ivy Tattoo in Miss Peculiar's Haunting Tales, Volume II), magic acts and the history of magic (The Magic of Cross and Crowe, also found in Miss Peculiar's Haunting Tales, Volume II), forensics, the duties of a medical examiner/ coroner (the Talon series), and colonial architecture (for a future novel set in New Hampshire about witches), and road and area maps (Life Skills which is set in the Hampton Beach/Portsmouth/Rye area of NH but extends up to Freeport Maine- my family has vacation in that area all my life so I'm familiar with it and landmarks but needed the maps as guidelines and reminders).
The majority of what I write comes straight out of my imagination, but sometimes I need certain more authentic details and descriptions. These visual prompts and the research I do provide those aspects.
My ideal writing room would have a corkboard where I could pin up pictures and maps I draw to remind me where things are located in relation to the main setting, etc. Right now I don't have that sort of space in my home, but I hope to one day- we have a millennial daughter still living at home with all her stuff.
I need a tiny house just for writing in my big back yard!!
Sometimes I am inspired to create a character from a face I see. And sometimes, I type in characteristics I'm looking for to see if I can find a face/image to use to model my character on. Sometimes I need a visual guide.
I do the same thing with houses and other structures. If a house catches my eye I might construct a whole story around it (the Second Empire mansion known as The Cedars Funeral Home in The Girl With The Ivy Tattoo in Miss Peculiar's Haunting Tales, Volume II comes to mind.) I'll print the picture or take a picture of the house and use it as a descriptive prompt.
My dining room is littered with faces and houses ad some cars and other vehicles. These are references and reminders to me of what my characters sort of look like in case I write a sequel. I really need to put them in a visual prompt scrapbook by novel/story. That would be ideal and a much better way of organizing them than the scrap pile on the table!
My table also has stacks of research- like the magical qualities of herbs, plants, trees. Vampire traits. Ranks of angels and descriptions of them. I have articles on chinchillas (The Archetypes series), haunted houses, ghost hunting gear (the as yet unpublished Amberton Paranormal Investigative Society novels set in the vicinity of Burlington VT), funeral home etiquette and livery (The Girl with the Ivy Tattoo in Miss Peculiar's Haunting Tales, Volume II), magic acts and the history of magic (The Magic of Cross and Crowe, also found in Miss Peculiar's Haunting Tales, Volume II), forensics, the duties of a medical examiner/ coroner (the Talon series), and colonial architecture (for a future novel set in New Hampshire about witches), and road and area maps (Life Skills which is set in the Hampton Beach/Portsmouth/Rye area of NH but extends up to Freeport Maine- my family has vacation in that area all my life so I'm familiar with it and landmarks but needed the maps as guidelines and reminders).
The majority of what I write comes straight out of my imagination, but sometimes I need certain more authentic details and descriptions. These visual prompts and the research I do provide those aspects.
My ideal writing room would have a corkboard where I could pin up pictures and maps I draw to remind me where things are located in relation to the main setting, etc. Right now I don't have that sort of space in my home, but I hope to one day- we have a millennial daughter still living at home with all her stuff.
I need a tiny house just for writing in my big back yard!!
August 6, 2016
Hit The Wall
It was bound to happen. I tend to live my life at full tilt- working a full time job, rushing around all day there, then running home, doing a few things around the house before sitting down and writing for the remainder of the evening and into the night. I average about 6.5 interrupted hours of sleep per night with Mr. CPAP with the restless legs and two cats who take turns trying to see if I really am asleep. On weekends I usually run errands, do more housework and write. I very, very seldom have any down time. I feel like I'm wasting time if I sit still and do nothing. I honestly cannot do nothing- my mind is just too full of stuff.
Therefore, sleeping in until 10AM this morning was the first indication that my body and brain were sending me a message. I've been struggling through a huge flare up of rheumatoid arthritis for weeks and the fatigue has been building. I just didn't expect it to hit so hard.
I have done nothing all day since stumbling out of bed this morning but sit in my chair or on the love seat reading some magazines that had accumulated on the end table and playing games on my phone. I even watched parts of the slew of westerns my husband laid on the couch and watched all day, all afternoon, and now all night.
I have a million things to do...so tonight I made myself write my two blogs, answer an email from my sister, clean out my professional email where junk had accumulated, and read an author friend's inspirational blog.
I have not been otherwise productive in the least.
Tomorrow I will reboot, and hopefully be more like myself. Last night I hit the wall and my brain crashed. Today has been a recovery day.
Therefore, sleeping in until 10AM this morning was the first indication that my body and brain were sending me a message. I've been struggling through a huge flare up of rheumatoid arthritis for weeks and the fatigue has been building. I just didn't expect it to hit so hard.
I have done nothing all day since stumbling out of bed this morning but sit in my chair or on the love seat reading some magazines that had accumulated on the end table and playing games on my phone. I even watched parts of the slew of westerns my husband laid on the couch and watched all day, all afternoon, and now all night.
I have a million things to do...so tonight I made myself write my two blogs, answer an email from my sister, clean out my professional email where junk had accumulated, and read an author friend's inspirational blog.
I have not been otherwise productive in the least.
Tomorrow I will reboot, and hopefully be more like myself. Last night I hit the wall and my brain crashed. Today has been a recovery day.
August 4, 2016
Kind of Quiet
The hot, dry weather ha been very draining We're in a drought here in New England as well and it's hard just to walk out the door into the oppressive heat to go to work. Even the cats are feeling sluggish.
I have let many things slide due to low energy. I am working on a new novel but not sure if it'll meet my standards or not when done.
I gifted a coworker a copy of Black King Takes White Queen. Her 18-year old daughter grabbed it and was 7 chapters deep the following morning. She was then up past midnight the next night and is close to finishing it today. I chose four additional books for her to enjoy this summer- Medea (written under the pseudonym Victoria Bell, a YA novel), My Magical Life, The Archetypes-First Generation and Talon: Finding the Familiar (which is book 4 in the series but is primarily about Dr. Talon and Bryce's college senior daughter Jamie Milena Talon)
I gave another co-worker the first three books in the Talon series that are about Dr. Talon (frosty Medical Examiner and smokin' hot grim reaper) and Bryce who is on a path of self discovery over the course of the 3 books as Talon's portal and one true love. My co-worker likes a little spice to her summer reads.
I have one chapter written of the sequel to Black King Takes White Queen but I need to step back from it for a month to regroup and reread the book so I can clean up any loose ends in the second book.
I have one other book partially written about witches in New England, another "urban fantasy".
So while I feel as if it's been a quiet time for me, in reality it really hasn't been. It really never is quiet in my home!
I have let many things slide due to low energy. I am working on a new novel but not sure if it'll meet my standards or not when done.
I gifted a coworker a copy of Black King Takes White Queen. Her 18-year old daughter grabbed it and was 7 chapters deep the following morning. She was then up past midnight the next night and is close to finishing it today. I chose four additional books for her to enjoy this summer- Medea (written under the pseudonym Victoria Bell, a YA novel), My Magical Life, The Archetypes-First Generation and Talon: Finding the Familiar (which is book 4 in the series but is primarily about Dr. Talon and Bryce's college senior daughter Jamie Milena Talon)
I gave another co-worker the first three books in the Talon series that are about Dr. Talon (frosty Medical Examiner and smokin' hot grim reaper) and Bryce who is on a path of self discovery over the course of the 3 books as Talon's portal and one true love. My co-worker likes a little spice to her summer reads.
I have one chapter written of the sequel to Black King Takes White Queen but I need to step back from it for a month to regroup and reread the book so I can clean up any loose ends in the second book.
I have one other book partially written about witches in New England, another "urban fantasy".
So while I feel as if it's been a quiet time for me, in reality it really hasn't been. It really never is quiet in my home!
August 1, 2016
Cats in the Closet
We have two cats, both five years old. Revere is a tuxedo and on the heavy side. He's loyal and very involved in our day to day lives. He's adjusted his eating and sleeping schedule to match ours. We adopted him when he was six or seven weeks old. He thinks he's one of us- a human, not a cat.
We adopted Riley Beans four months after we adopted Revere. Riley had been fostered by another family. We found him in the cat rescue shelter in a room all by himself in a cage. He had major dental issues, horrendous halitosis, but he was sweet and easy going. He was a short-haired cat when we adopted him.
We tackled his dental issues. I may have written about that previously. He's had laser gum surgery and outgrew the juvenile gingival hyperplasia that was killing him. He has regular cleanings and check-ups- and is sort of the poster child for his condition at the vet's since he was the first case of his kind they had taken on. Most cases get sent to a veterinary dentist, who usually pulls all the cat's teeth. We said, "No!" to that. He was only a couple of months old!
Anyway- Riley was more aloof and enigmatic than his brother. And he went from short-haired to soft and fluffy seemingly overnight, which also changed him from a rather homely little fella into a gorgeous boy!
He's rather strange. He prefers to sleep in enclosed spaces, whereas Revere sprawls on the love seat, my chair, the bed, the ottoman, the floor...but he will not go under a bed or in a closet. Riley loves the linen closet in the bathroom which had shelves from the ceiling to halfway down the space with room for a hamper under the shelves. He likes the towel shelf, so we created a catnap space in the left back corner for him with his own towel. He can't jump up to the shelf because the dish towels and hand towels would topple and he'd fall. So we have to pick him up and load him into the closet. Kelly and I always announce when Riley's in the closet.
On Saturday John apparently loaded Riley into the closet and didn't bother to tell anyone. I cleaned the bathroom. It's normal to find the closet door ajar and I usually look to see if he's in the shadow recesses in his corner, but he also doesn't like the chemical smells from cleaning, so since he didn't jump out and flee I assumed he was no longer in the closet from earlier in the day, and closed the closet door when I was finished cleaning.
Four hours later, just before dinner time, I went to use the bathroom. I saw some dust bunnies on the floor near the closet door and thought that was odd since I'd just cleaned, so I opened the door and out tumbled dish towels, hand towels and a very antsy Riley who squinted at me after being in the dark for so long and then slunk away into the hallway.
I went after him and finally caught him in the living room, scooping him up and apologizing to him. He wasn't very happy with me, but when I put him on his platform he laid down and deigned to give me a look. I rubbed his ears, which he loves, and then went back to the bathroom. The door of the closet was still ajar so I started to close it, but remembered seeing Revere come into the bathroom as Riley was exiting, so I opened the closet wider, and sure enough, there was Revere, who hates enclosed spaces, lounging in the laundry basket!
Cats!
I'm going to make a little sign on a string that says OCCUPIED on one side and UNOCCUPIED on the other. We can just flip it around depending on whether or not the cat is in the closet. That should prevent further incidents of cats being shut in the closet...
...or maybe not. My husband has concussion syndrome with memory lapses. He'll probably forget to turn the sign!
(Riley forgave me a few hours after I'd set him free. I was sprawled on our bed writing in my journal and he came down the hall, jumped on the bed and started being cute and adorable by rubbing his head against my knuckles as I was writing, snorting through his nose (I'm pretty sure this is a sign of affection from him, or else he's using me as a handkerchief!), and then laying his paw across my arm and making bread dough like cats do, a throwback to their nursing days with their Mom cat.)
We adopted Riley Beans four months after we adopted Revere. Riley had been fostered by another family. We found him in the cat rescue shelter in a room all by himself in a cage. He had major dental issues, horrendous halitosis, but he was sweet and easy going. He was a short-haired cat when we adopted him.
We tackled his dental issues. I may have written about that previously. He's had laser gum surgery and outgrew the juvenile gingival hyperplasia that was killing him. He has regular cleanings and check-ups- and is sort of the poster child for his condition at the vet's since he was the first case of his kind they had taken on. Most cases get sent to a veterinary dentist, who usually pulls all the cat's teeth. We said, "No!" to that. He was only a couple of months old!
Anyway- Riley was more aloof and enigmatic than his brother. And he went from short-haired to soft and fluffy seemingly overnight, which also changed him from a rather homely little fella into a gorgeous boy!
He's rather strange. He prefers to sleep in enclosed spaces, whereas Revere sprawls on the love seat, my chair, the bed, the ottoman, the floor...but he will not go under a bed or in a closet. Riley loves the linen closet in the bathroom which had shelves from the ceiling to halfway down the space with room for a hamper under the shelves. He likes the towel shelf, so we created a catnap space in the left back corner for him with his own towel. He can't jump up to the shelf because the dish towels and hand towels would topple and he'd fall. So we have to pick him up and load him into the closet. Kelly and I always announce when Riley's in the closet.
On Saturday John apparently loaded Riley into the closet and didn't bother to tell anyone. I cleaned the bathroom. It's normal to find the closet door ajar and I usually look to see if he's in the shadow recesses in his corner, but he also doesn't like the chemical smells from cleaning, so since he didn't jump out and flee I assumed he was no longer in the closet from earlier in the day, and closed the closet door when I was finished cleaning.
Four hours later, just before dinner time, I went to use the bathroom. I saw some dust bunnies on the floor near the closet door and thought that was odd since I'd just cleaned, so I opened the door and out tumbled dish towels, hand towels and a very antsy Riley who squinted at me after being in the dark for so long and then slunk away into the hallway.
I went after him and finally caught him in the living room, scooping him up and apologizing to him. He wasn't very happy with me, but when I put him on his platform he laid down and deigned to give me a look. I rubbed his ears, which he loves, and then went back to the bathroom. The door of the closet was still ajar so I started to close it, but remembered seeing Revere come into the bathroom as Riley was exiting, so I opened the closet wider, and sure enough, there was Revere, who hates enclosed spaces, lounging in the laundry basket!
Cats!
I'm going to make a little sign on a string that says OCCUPIED on one side and UNOCCUPIED on the other. We can just flip it around depending on whether or not the cat is in the closet. That should prevent further incidents of cats being shut in the closet...
...or maybe not. My husband has concussion syndrome with memory lapses. He'll probably forget to turn the sign!
(Riley forgave me a few hours after I'd set him free. I was sprawled on our bed writing in my journal and he came down the hall, jumped on the bed and started being cute and adorable by rubbing his head against my knuckles as I was writing, snorting through his nose (I'm pretty sure this is a sign of affection from him, or else he's using me as a handkerchief!), and then laying his paw across my arm and making bread dough like cats do, a throwback to their nursing days with their Mom cat.)
July 30, 2016
What Are You Doing Here?
"What are you doing here?" asked our medical assistant intern when she recently discovered I'm also an author.
I looked at her and replied, "Earning a living, just like you."
That's the simple truth of the matter.
Being a self-published author without much time to self promote I consider myself fortunate to have a full time job that pays the bills and allows me to keep writing. I basically work to support my hobby & passion which is writing. I'm certainly not making any money at it.
Not yet anyway.
At the end of the day I gifted my inquisitive co-worker with a copy of my new novel, Black King Takes White Queen. Everyone gets a free first book where I work. My two closest friends get all their books for free. All my co-workers get first pick of my proof copies, hand-edited copies with scribbles in the margins and imperfect ARCs. I lug in a box from time to time and call it a Free Book Day- and everybody's happy! I get rid of the clutter in my dining room and they go home with a new and different book to read.
So, that's what I'm doing at work- working to support my writing habit and hobby.
I looked at her and replied, "Earning a living, just like you."
That's the simple truth of the matter.
Being a self-published author without much time to self promote I consider myself fortunate to have a full time job that pays the bills and allows me to keep writing. I basically work to support my hobby & passion which is writing. I'm certainly not making any money at it.
Not yet anyway.
At the end of the day I gifted my inquisitive co-worker with a copy of my new novel, Black King Takes White Queen. Everyone gets a free first book where I work. My two closest friends get all their books for free. All my co-workers get first pick of my proof copies, hand-edited copies with scribbles in the margins and imperfect ARCs. I lug in a box from time to time and call it a Free Book Day- and everybody's happy! I get rid of the clutter in my dining room and they go home with a new and different book to read.
So, that's what I'm doing at work- working to support my writing habit and hobby.
July 27, 2016
Experimenting with Kindle Books
I have four books available in the USA from the Kindle Store now- Black King Takes White Queen, my newly released urban fantasy, Talon: An Intimate Familiarity which is a paranormal/supernatural romance about an icy cold Medical Examiner who is also a grim reaper with a fiery passion for his chosen portal, Miss Peculiar's Haunting Tales, Volume I, a collection of 6 supernatural suspense stories and My Magical Life, another urban fantasy with a witch and a vampire and the cheekiest feline familiar in print.
If there's interest in the Kindle books I'll convert others to e-reader availability. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. Unfortunately I am clueless about rights outside of this country so the books are only available in this country at this time because I do have all my rights here.
If there's interest in the Kindle books I'll convert others to e-reader availability. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. Unfortunately I am clueless about rights outside of this country so the books are only available in this country at this time because I do have all my rights here.
July 26, 2016
Black King Takes White Queen Released
My new urban fantasy novel is now available on Amazon.com and from other booksellers. This is the first one I am trying to make available for Kindle but the site was having issues this past weekend, so bear with me.
Might be doing a Giveaway for this book next month. Awaiting some stock which is en route as I type.
The first chapter of the sequel has been written...but I've been taking some time to read the books I've picked up at Author Events here in town- have attended three events and bought one book ahead for an event being held August 12th- have two of those books read and the other two half read apiece.
I need to buckle down and get back to writing! However, the end table beside my chair is stacked with books awaiting my attention, and I downloaded two more segments of Jonathan L. Howard's Goon Squad serial. I really enjoy his Johannes Cabal series- nothing is more droll than the British sense of humor!
I also have Darynda Jones' The Curse of Tenth Grave to dive into, plus books I picked up at the Agawam Public Library READLocal event.
So much to do- so little time when one also works full time!
Might be doing a Giveaway for this book next month. Awaiting some stock which is en route as I type.
The first chapter of the sequel has been written...but I've been taking some time to read the books I've picked up at Author Events here in town- have attended three events and bought one book ahead for an event being held August 12th- have two of those books read and the other two half read apiece.
I need to buckle down and get back to writing! However, the end table beside my chair is stacked with books awaiting my attention, and I downloaded two more segments of Jonathan L. Howard's Goon Squad serial. I really enjoy his Johannes Cabal series- nothing is more droll than the British sense of humor!
I also have Darynda Jones' The Curse of Tenth Grave to dive into, plus books I picked up at the Agawam Public Library READLocal event.
So much to do- so little time when one also works full time!
Welcome to My World
Here I will write a little bit about my writing, how I write, how I create characters and environments...and maybe some little glimpses into my real life because writers and authors are real people af
...more
- Susan Buffum's profile
- 71 followers
